Another lakefront notion has been presented.
There is a new player in the National Football League’s Chicago Bears franchise ownership quest to find a new stadium in the Chicagoland area. A business called Farpoint Development would love to build a stadium for the franchise at an old hospital site. “As we continue our infrastructure work on the Bronzeville Lakefront site, we would love to make it home to the Chicago Bears, but regardless, we will continue the work needed to make it Chicago’s premier mixed-use community,” said Farpoint founding principal Scott Goodman. Bears officials have not considered the plot of land because it was too narrow and presented engineering and security challenges because of the area’s Metra rail tracks on the property.
Bears’ ownership had hoped to break ground for a state-of-the-art 21st century venue by now. The Bears’ business is looking for land to build a stadium. It is unclear if Bears’ ownership feels that a 326-acre piece of property it owns in Arlington Heights, a northern Chicago suburb, is suitable as a location for a stadium or if the group thinks the local property tax bill is too high. The property tax bill problem seems to have been rectified. Bears’ ownership seemingly would rather move its base of operations within a five minute walk of its present Soldier Field home. Bears’ ownership wants to build a stadium in Soldier Field’s parking lot and surround the facility with stores, office space and housing. Bears’ ownership has met resistance to that notion. The McCaskey family, the owners of the football business, claimed they were willing to throw in about $2 billion to help finance the venture but the McCaskeys wanted at least $900 million in bonds from the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority. Illinois politicians are not too impressed with the McCaskey family’s plans. The Bears’ stadium saga continues.
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